Smith, 59, was most recently the CEO of Delhaize America, a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group., which owns the Food Lion supermarket chain. Before that, he was CEO of fast-food chain The Wendy's Co.
Smith is replacing former Office Depot co-CEOs Neil Austrian and Ravi Saligram, who have resigned from the company and board of directors.
Last week, Office Depot and OfficeMax completed their $1.2 billion merger. Smith will work to integrate the two and decide on where the combined company will be headquartered. Office Depot is based in Boca Raton, Fla., while OfficeMax is based in Naperville, Ill.
The combined company took the name Office Depot and its stock is traded under the ticker symbol "ODP" on the New York Stock Exchange
Shares of Office Depot slipped 5 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $5.21 Tuesday. |